The baseline
A 2,000 sq ft code-built house in Charlestown typically wants somewhere between 850 and 1000 gallons of oil a year, or the propane, pellet or cord wood equivalent. That is the number a percentage saving has to be measured against.
Home / Service Area / Charlestown, NH
Steel insulated panels in Charlestown, NH.
Charlestown runs along the Connecticut River with a long main street of Federal-era houses and a working, practical building market.
6AClimate zone
R-61Effective wall R-value
50%Less framing labour
75%Less heating energy
River valley · Sullivan County
What Charlestown projects ask of a wall.
River-valley flatland, straightforward truck access from Route 12.
The same panel that makes a good house makes a good working building. It is used for cold storage and freezers because it is a continuous, thermally broken insulated envelope, and it is used for barns and shops because nothing in it feeds termites, carpenter ants or rodents. Steel and EPS do not rot or delaminate when they get wet, which matters within sight of a river.
What we typically supply in Charlestown: New single-family homes, small commercial, additions and shops.
The arithmetic in zone 6A
What the wall is worth here, in fuel.
Zone 6A runs roughly 7,000 to 8,000 heating degree days. A code-minimum wall spends a large share of that season conducting heat straight through its own framing.
The same house in panels
At an effective R-51 to R-61 with the studs thermally broken from the exterior face, heating energy typically falls 70 to 75% — on the order of 230 to 300 gallons. At current delivered prices that is thousands of dollars a year, every year the building stands.
The upfront return
A design load that low lets the mechanical system be sized at roughly half. Smaller equipment, smaller ductwork, less dedicated electrical service, and on solar-paired projects a smaller array and battery bank. That money never leaves the construction budget.
Baselines are typical for the climate zone and floor area, not a promise about your building. Send plans and we will run the numbers on the actual design.
Four products, one panel
Structure, insulation, sheathing and vapour barrier arrive together.
Each panel bonds light gauge galvanised steel structural members to EPS with a patented composite joining technology, and does the work of four separate trades. That is why the framing phase for an average house is about three days rather than three weeks.
Exterior wall panel
5.5″ or 7.5″ thick, up to 4′ × 12′, effective R-51 to R-61, up to 42,000 plf LRFD, ready for direct application of the final cladding.
Roof panel
Load bearing, so trusses open to every 4–6 ft. Two panels connect at the ridge for cathedral ceilings and A-frames with no intermediate support.
Interior and ceiling panels
3.5″ at R-28 for partitions, tiny homes and quiet rooms; ceiling panels pre-chased and ready for direct sheathing.
Floor and below-grade
Concrete floor panels span up to 50 ft with minimal shoring and cut concrete volume by around 40%; below-grade panels are rated for foundation and retaining walls.
How it works
Four steps from a Charlestown sketch to a finished shell.
01
Send what you have
Architect’s drawings, a plan-service set, or a hand sketch with rough dimensions and a note about storeys and roof. We will tell you what is missing.
02
Free take-off and price
We panelize the building on paper and return a package and a delivered price to your Charlestown site — no cost, and an honest comparison against building it the usual way.
03
Shop drawings
Two to four weeks. Our drafters work with your architect and engineer: every panel numbered, every rough opening located, beams and headers integrated.
04
Delivery and assembly
Panels arrive bundled in wall-line order with track, screws and hardware. One framer and two helpers close in an average house in about three days.
Code and compliance in New Hampshire
Your plan reviewer has seen this before.
New Hampshire has adopted the state energy code statewide, and a documented effective R-51 to R-61 wall clears its envelope requirements without exterior continuous insulation.
Structural
IAPMO load tables for construction types II–V, signed and sealed by BEI Engineering. Up to 42,000 plf LRFD in bearing and 2,420 plf in shear with a 2.0 safety factor.
Fire and acoustics
Two-hour load-bearing, one-hour load-bearing and two-hour non-load-bearing assemblies. EPS smoke and flame spread, self-ignition and flash ignition data. STC-rated assemblies for party walls.
Envelope and weather
Intertek thermal performance assessment, thermal zone map, ASTM E283, E331 and E330 air and water penetration testing, HUD Bulletin 1072 compliance and documented manufacturing tolerances.
Questions from Charlestown
Straight answers before you commit.
Is this more expensive than stick framing?
The panel package costs more than lumber; the finished wall usually costs less, because it removes insulation, sheathing, house wrap and most of the labour. We will price both ways so you can see it.
Do you work with local builders?
Yes. Most of our projects are set by the client's own builder, with our drawings and a short walkthrough.
Can you build cold storage or a processing building?
Yes. The panel system is used for commercial freezers and cold storage for exactly the same reason it works in a house — a continuous, thermally broken envelope with no thermal bridging and no organic content.
What if the site is near a floodplain?
EPS and galvanised steel do not rot or delaminate when wet, which is a meaningful difference from wood framing or OSB-faced panels. Elevated first-floor designs and rated below-grade panels are both available.
What maintenance does the wall need?
None that is structural. There is no wood to rot, no insulation to settle and nothing pests will eat. Maintenance is whatever cladding you chose to put on the outside.
Do you really deliver to Charlestown?
Yes. We supply the whole of New England from our base in Keene, New Hampshire, with panels manufactured in Radford, Virginia. Freight to Charlestown is a quoted line item on the estimate, not a surprise at the end, and it is a small number against what the wall saves over the life of the building.
Is it more expensive than building with lumber?
The panel package costs more than a lumber package. The finished wall usually costs less, because the panel replaces framing, insulation, sheathing and vapour barrier and cuts framing labour by roughly half — then the mechanical system shrinks by about 50%. We will price it both ways so you can see the whole picture rather than one line of it.
How do I get a price for my Charlestown project?
Send plans, a sketch or a description with rough dimensions to our team. You get a panel take-off and a delivered price at no cost, usually within a few days, plus a note on anything in the design that is fighting the system while it is still cheap to change.
Building in Charlestown? Let’s price it.
Plans, a sketch or a napkin. We will tell you what the panel package costs delivered to your site — and what it saves against stick framing.